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I have no title for this, but please pray for my mom and my family, my grandma has passed away this evening...

I don’t mind having Alucard’s fluffy pillow 🥰

I love having a pillow/blanket nest, especially during the cold winter nights. I keep my head barely out enough so I don't smother myself with the weight. How would Alucard, Aizawa, D, and if you're still writing for Vlad/card, react to seeing their s/o buried under piles of blankets and surrounded by pillows? Maybe they even have some of their lover's clothing for extra comfort. I hope you're doing well and thanks so much for your time with writing your amazing asks/headcanons!

Pillow Pile & Some

📍First off…thank you for letting me know! I have decided to include Vladcard as you mentioned and I added Dom Aizawa.

🍷•Alucard

•Alucard is a tall, lanky bastard! You can't steal clothes from him..

•So his Pillows are the first in the pile up. Then your fuzzy/fluffy blanket (s).

•He has a warm sounding laugh when your eyes peek out from under the blankets. Your body wrapped around one of his pillows.

•Then a shadow tendril removes the blankets with a yank. Vampire King never gets tired of your shocked frown when he does that.

🛡•Vladcard

•Vlad gauges how cold you are versus missing him. If you're wearing one of his linen shirts and snuggling one of his pillows, that you miss him.

•If burrowed away like a cat undercovers, then he will either start a fire or stoke the wood burning.

•A mischievous bordering on wicked smiles crosses his lips. He removes his shirt with a toss to a chair and begins at the end of the bed and moves under the blankets.

•Of course you move out of his way but there's no escape as strong arms grap you tightly.

🛏

⛩️•Shouta Aizawa

•Ha! It will be you trying to get the blankets and pillows away from him!

•If you happen to have them, he moves them enough to get inside your pillow-blanket nest.

•Perhaps a lazy day off for both of you, two 'cats' snuggling under the pile of pillows and blankets.

🛏

🪢•Alpha Aizawa

•Hmm…Dom Aizawa first gives you the look of 'bad kitty".

•Then he begins to dismantle your nest until he finds an arm preferably an ankle to drag you to the edge of the bed.

•He just smirks all cocky, you are getting cold so you scramble to get snuggled up to him. Dom Aizawa is willing to warm you up for a price.

I leave the price up to you..

🛏

⚜️• Vampire Hunter D

•You are the reason he now has two traveler's coats so one can stay with you. His favorite item is his scarf and he accepts that it's not his anymore.

•Remember D doesn't live in one spot. He constantly travels the frontier and takes break for the cyborg horse.

•When able to get a room on the frontier, it's whatever blankets and pillows provided. You probably have a blanket that travels with you.

•You get to hear a soft sigh let out and you know D has a roguish smile..

@artsy-jandi @alucardownsmyass @amikartest

OMG I’m really going crazy for Alucard now 🥵❤️ 

Nsfw here! Do you have any headcanons on Alucard preparing his lover for their first time having sex?

First of Many

📍So your question is part two of similar asks with virgins. This is a probable scenario for your first time.

💋•Side info: In my universe he can nip but a true bite with fangs, it needs to be deep in muscle or tissue. The vampire 'venom'' is necrotic neurotoxin. That means he can do a mild bite without turning you. The sharing of small amounts of his blood fed to you could prevent becoming a ghoul further down the road. Kinda like a flu shot of his blood creates an immunity..okay not sure where that's going.

⚠️Warnings: sexually written and involves coitus. And some how no swearing😖 Minors Do Not Interact ‼️

🌹

•Alucard plans things out ahead of time. Doing something enjoyable and relaxing out like dining, walking in the rose gardens of Hellsing & such.

•A hot shower to help nerves and begin the foreplay. His damn long tongue! He may start out by 'eating' you out, legs over his shoulders. (And damn you notice how tall he is)

•Next would be mutually drying off and then being swept up in his arms bridal style. And would you think he will just set you on the bed?

• No he uses his cat-like grace and great strength to place you and then him on top of you, in one fluid motion only elder vampires can do.

•His fingers, surprisingly bare, touch, caress and arouse your mind and body. Lips kissing, teeth nipping and tugging on bottom lips. Soft rumbling growls that vibrate and you feel from his bare chest before you hear the growls (strange but interesting feeling)

•Alucard begins to use his fingers to stretch you a bit down there, making sure there's plenty of juices flowing or discreetly applying more bottle lube not directly on you but his veiny dick.! It's cold if you can believe it or not just poured on you there.

•Just as you are about to cum from his masterful fingers,, Shadow King begins the process of inserting his thick veiny cock (you decide how big he is or long). It begins with distracting kisses as he slips the tip in and pauses. If you seem comfortable and relaxed, it's the three rules, three thrusts and dragging almost out. Then full hilt sheathed in you.

•Though perhaps your the yank the bandaid off quickly kinda gal so it's one fast slide in until he's in as far as your body will allow him.

•No Life King becomes still and only wiggles his pelvis until he's sure you're ready for more of him. Alucard starts at a slow pace to settle better on top of you. His arms go under your armpits and reappear by your head. The Vampire King begins rocking his hips as your body curls and stretches to the motion. .

• His whole body engulfs yours beautifully and you feel so safe with him and his body.

He's intimately holding you securely.

•He controls his arousal so that you definitely cum first most of all. You can help later tonight with his itch. He encourages you to moan, groan and any other delightful 'sex' noises as it let's him know he's getting it right.

"Draga Regina (my queen in Romanian) you are so beautiful in my arms like this," the vampiric purr starts with his voice. "Your body fits perfectly…snug like a well made glove for my dick to slide in.."

•He knows you are about to orgasm by the sound of your heart and your breathing. He lets you ride your orgasm out.

•Hot bath in case your hips are a little sore. Your muscles have been used that way ever (Trust me you have muscles where you didn't think you had). He gets in first so that you can between his legs and relax.

•His hands remove sweaty hair from your face while his mouth gently kisses your head while mumbling encouraging words on how well you took his size and gave him so much pleasure.

"Was your first as good as you dreamed Scumpa mea (my darling)..?"

📍And there you have it! Hope you enjoyed!

@artsy-jandi @amikartest @hunnie880 @alucardownsmyass

I love how Seras looks as an chibi style shes so cute ❤️❤️❤️ I hope you all like how I drew her ❤️

Hellsing © Kohta Hirano Seras Victoria © Kohta Hirano Artwork © @amikartest

You know, I’ve been having this fantasies sometimes every night, I can’t help it ^^;

How would D, Alucard and Aizawa react if they walked into their s/o’s room and saw them sleeping on their bed?

Slumbering s/o

I'm slightly confused as to why the s/o hasn't a common shared bed. Perhaps I am not understanding the question completely? Perhaps English is not your first language and that's okay. I will see what I can come up with.

•📍Alucard I suppose his place and your room.

•📍Aizawa could be living in the U.A. high dorms.

•📍D maybe doing recon at night and you are sleeping in a rented room.

These are the scenarios I will work with. Next is a bit on a sexual philia. You can probably guess who has one, for sure.

📍"somnophilia: the sleeping princess syndrome, a paraphilia of the marauding/predatory type in which erotic arousal and facilitation or attainment of orgasm are responsive to and contingent on intruding on and awakening a sleeping stranger with erotic caresses, including oral sex, not involving force or violence from Latin, somnus, sleep + -philia). There is no technical term for the reciprocal paraphilic condition of being the recipient, which occurs more readily in fantasy than in actuality. See also sleeping princess (or prince) syndrome; (adjective, somnophilic): the condition in which a person is dependent on intruding upon and fondling a partner who is a stranger asleep, or fantasizing doing so, in order to obtain erotic arousal and facilitate or achieve orgasm."

⚠️ Warnings: Consented permission on the somnophilia before incident. Coitus and orgasm.🚫 Minors Do Not Interact ‼️

⚜️•Vampire Hunter D

Note: Somnophilia is not something D would do. He has seen too many taken advantage of and without consent by Nobles.

•It had been a long ten days hunting a Noble down. His minions were formidable so D wanted you to get some undisturbed sleep.

•He got you a room and left to go patrolling around the frontier town.

•D's booted feet touch down on the ledge of your room window. He slowly uses his knife to slip between window and window frame. The lock pops loose and all that can be seen is his traveler's cloak following like a shadow into your room.

•At first the vampire hunter just stands still and watches you sleep soundly.

"Oh, go on and sleep too.." Lefty grumbles. "I will keep an eye open."

•D slips in to bed, once having removed his weapons and cloak. Next his left arm under your head and the fore arm raised for Lefty to keep an 'eye' on the room.

🍷•The Corruptive One-No Life King

Note: Somnophilia is something he highly enjoys but insists on giving consent in the beginning of the relationship.

•Not much to say on this. He wants to see if you wake up during sexual relations.

•Sometimes he's orally pleasuring you and you wake up orgasming. The part you hate the most is when you hear his disembodied voice laughing, your room smells of sex and his blood tinged cum dripping out of your hole.

🪢exhausted hero Shouta Aizawa

Note: Aizawa has consent but has never acted upon doing somnophilia.

•He stumbles into the dorm of Class 1-A and he's exhausted as usual. You and he keep up appearances as being teachers and dorm attendance and just dating. So you have separate rooms.

•He enters your room and strips down to his tight fitting boxer briefs. Aizawa would slip into bed and hold you tightly. His fingers are stroking your skin.

•Soon he will be sound to sleep too and has no nightmares for this night. They don't come in his sleep when he has you in his arms.

@alucardownsmyass @hunnie880 @amikartest @artsy-jandi

I'm a fan of tropes no matter how cheesy they are. I don't know if this was written in detail in a previous ask or in general, but the question is: What would Alucard do/react when he comes across a young woman that was a reincarnation of a gentle beloved from a past life? Alucard's doubt and call of coincidence of her in the modern age is erased once she does something like gently caressing his face or calling him an endearing name only they know? In my reincarnation take, memories can be so deeply buried in the mind due to the many ages the soul has lived it is difficult to remember a particular life - but I'm sure our No Life King can spur them. I know this is a long ask, no rush and please take your time with this. I hope all is well with your shoulder!

Remembered Again

⚠️Warnings: a Possible Tear Jerker..

🤔Hmm...not sure I get your use of cheesy. Cheesy means I shouldn't take this ask seriously? Well..I will do what I can as my understanding of reincarnation is different from yours…

🌏My Hellsing universe is not canon either. It is one that has different details like Chateau Sanguine and Slenderman is the front desk part of the year. It's his vacation so he can terrorize Hyde Park. Dr. Pine is the resident doctor at Hellsing etc.

As for details, a little reminder of 2,000 words max. So this may not be what or how you wanted written. I make no apologies for that. You are 'free' to ask another Hellsing writer this question… I am also including the ask on reincarnation Alucard discovering a family member. There will also be the Psycho-biographical considerations about Vlad the Impaler also known as Dracula by Dr. Peter Dan. It will not be part of the 2,000 word limit.

📈 Onward now..

🗝️Some Concepts on Reincarnation

•You are back on earth from not learning your lessons so that your soul no longer needs to return continually. It's about the higher of the body, mind and soul. Undertaking the journey is believed to ensure the pilgrim's release from the cycle of reincarnation. Lack of memory is so your spiritual path starts with a blank slate. Hopefully one doesn't make the same mistakes in this current lifetime.

📍 (main content starts here)

⏳Alucard will never be able to do reincarnation as he is trapped to spend his undead time forever on earth. Perhaps if that one human finds him and is worthy then he would be released by the cycle of true death.

There's a definite curse right there..

• Also he is formerly Christian so reincarnation is not a concept he deals with remotely in his long period of existing. This is most often Hindu and Eastern counties kind of concept. Perhaps he traveled farther than Europe but all indications are that he only went far from his castle. Bram Stoker leaves these details out.

•All assume that Alucard understands reincarnation due to Copula Bram Stoker's Dracula. The movie diverges substantially from the book in this nature. So I use some history and historical theory that Vlad did some form of alchemy more likely. It is why the alchemy aspect of the Sigils work so well. Alchemy was part of the dark arts used on Dracula to become the tamer version of Alucard.

👁️

•At first Alucard has so many memories stashed in his brain that even he can't always remember. Killing someone isn't even considered an excuse to form a memory. Also his living years were chaotic and full of deadly incidents.

Bad memories stick more than good times…

• Perhaps your death was extremely violent or of great despair. His cruelty made you mad or run far, far away from him. This is a strong emotional marker in an undead mind. So at first he would only subconsciously recognize his reincarnated lover by scent. Even humans are affected by scent we just don’t register it the same or understand what an ‘invisible- like pheromones' is) Scent is often the trigger when a flashback kicks in. Ask the person who resides with a violent drinker. The smell of the breath is an easy trigger.

Smell forms memories in another part of the brain…

•Perhaps he would take time to search out someone's soul he has consumed and obtain more clues. Blood is the currency of the soul. There he encounters a multitude of trapped souls stuck in limbo and reside in Vlad's form of living hell. That does take time so for a year he would simply watch and listen.

A unique behavior, certain words you repeat etc…

•He would choose a location he is comfortable with that you also travel through. Plays and more classical music halls. A loud nightclub or noisy cafe (if even they are open at that time) is not conducive for such a serious encounter from even if his self created shadows are being used

•Remember Alucard is not supposed to be loose and strolling in London even. Shadow King can only bend time so much until questions arise. Sir Hellsing can command him not to see you ever again or the sigils will inflict such pain he can not function or worse gets the pints of blood taken low and a private room in the deep reaches of the basement of Hellsing.

📍(More on this at the end)

• Besides, Alucard doesn't fit in much just due to vampire abilities. That is not taking in the factor of his vibrant hellfire colored eyes.

Even his meer movements betray him..

•Perhaps you are being 'pulled' to a beautiful London park, over time, on a full moon. The Vampire King is troubled and not even sure he will let you know he still exists. Part of his self destruction is that he doesn't deserve you, once he places a name and face to both your pasts. Besides, no human in their right mind would choose a monster.

Especially the King of monsters.. All Father.

•Should he deem himself worthy of your time he would use honorifics such as 'dear lady' or 'Miss.' in the beginning of the meeting. You would have to let him know he can use your first name in the future. He won’t touch you unless you let him know that is appropriate. He believes he is a polite monster at least. . Unholy King still isn't convinced you are the reincarnated person from another time period. He needs to verify how you knew him and you to him...

Alucard would get to know you, so those dark, buried memories may not return from that lifetime…

How much do you now remember of that past life?

Do you have good ones reappearing and not one of his war atrocities you remember? He is torn inside.Alucard respects you too much to ‘rifle’ through your mind.

Could you love him again in this time period? Would you even try once you knew the truth of who he is and what he is?

Perhaps he fears more that you would give your life for him out of feelings of true love. The Shadow King is greatly concerned that it is he who brings danger, disaster and even death. Father Anderson is not above using a lost love to inflict pain on Alucard.Once more his arrogant banter is replaced with self loathing. He's not sure he even remembers how to Love. Let alone deserve your love.

A monster who judges himself unlovable…

Most likely it would be a pet name from the past that opens many doors but not necessarily in a positive light. Then a soft caress of a hand, his face is too high for your hand if he is still guarded with you andbeing touched. Alucard wonders if your mind will be overtaken by his reawakened memories. You have grayed and distant feeling memories from your dreams.. If the dreams are in color, the images are like a movie put together wrong in editing.

So much blood and screams caused by those damned by his pale unnatural hands and vicious mouth...

“ Franțe membru (blood prince) is that you?” then you see a tired look upon his pale face.

“Blood Prince…blood in more ways than one draga mea,” he would softly reply with a far off looking gaze.

"Y/n”to be with me, is to walk with me, you must die to your breathing life, and be reborn to mine. I, the Vampire King,and I have found that I can still love because of you iubire de o viață (love of a lifetime) but I love you too much to condemn you to such an existence. You will never be a free vampire in this day and age or should you try to escape Hellsing, I am your executioner. Turn away and never look upon such a monster as me…”

The cursed blood prince dissolves to nothing but shadow and darkness so that he can not be followed by you…🩸

Now for the second scenario:

•If you worked at Hellsing then you may or may not get approval from Sir Integra. You would stay if upon working at the Hellsing orgaization, the history comes forth then you could probably stay in Alucard’s trapped life in the manor.

•If it was revealed you had remembered and known he was a long lost love before being hired then you woud be fired. Sir Integra’s thoughts are that the past life of you two will influence Alucard to disobey specific commands and therefore you can no longer work and reside at Hellsing.

•In the end Alucard is property of Hellsing organization. He is a tool or a weapon and so relationships are not deemed necessary for that part he plays.

“The gun” can’t jam due to sentiment from long ago…🩸

(final word count:1261- main body)

🍷

📍Ask: Alucard with reincarnated family

How do you think Alucard would react to coming across a long lost loved one that's been reincarnated? Such as his father or maybe his brother?

This is a good and interesting question as it is philosophical in nature, somewhat. Going to do a short take on Vlad II Dracul, older brother Mircea and younger brother Radu.

First things first, how would they meet?

For some reason I think he would see his older brother Mircea and his father together. It could be them leaving a restaurant with international food dishes. This reincarnation may be brothers if not father and son. Their cruelly done mutual murders have them linked together once more.

He loved his father and older brother so much, against reason and did cause discontingency in the boyar towards him, he hunted down their assassins. To be buried alive is a terrible way to go. Micea was blinded by a hot fire poker style tool.

Perhaps there is a scar at the corner of Micea's eyes to symbolize his past life as a Prince of Wallachia. The two male family members may even be from America but certain Romanian words may crop up or a nickname from long ago.

Maybe certain mannerisms.

Now for Radu, he would be angry as his mind would for a moment remembering everything and the reincarnated Radu would most likely not flash back to another life. Alucard would move on and leave the reincarnated younger brother unaware.

In the end, Alucard lives in another time and world. His reincarnated family is still human in a new body. He is centuries old and under Hellsing control. He would hope his father and Micea were having a better life this time. Perhaps watch over them if visiting London. If they live in London then check up on them to make sure they are safe.

Now his mother, Cneajna of Moldova, would bring bittersweet memories. If by chance his father had married her again in this life would convince him this parents deserved to be together for life times.

Zaleska, his daughter, would have Daddy Vladdy protection. He couldn't keep her safe as Vladcard but he can as Alucard. Seras would be on duty with this too. Not one asshole hitting on his girl. Maybe even convince Sir Hellsing to hire his reincarnated daughter. She would never know but it would give him satisfaction to be in this lifetime.

Footnotes

thingsabouttransylvania.com

Vlad's Family History

Vlad the Impaler had a really interesting family. For example, Vlad’s grandfather, Mircea cel Batrin (Mircea the Old) was a medieval wa

🛡️Ignorance is a man's worst enemy. Ignorance makes slaves of men. - Dracula

Psycho-biographical considerations about Vlad the Impaler also known as Dracula ~Dr. Peter Dan

Abstract

The formative years of the historical character Vlad III Dracula are analyzed from the perspective of dynamic psychology, moral psychology, developmental psychology and psychopathology in order to create a framework for diagnostic hypotheses about his personality and psychological functioning.

Key words: Dracula, impalement, primogeniture, psychic numbing, psychic doubling, emotional detachment, psychopathy, paranoid personality disorder, extreme life events, post traumatic stress syndrome.

Short historical context

Vlad III Draculea, later alliterated to Dracula, from the Latin draco, meaning the son of the dragon but also possibly the son of the devil, was born at the end of 1431 in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara. His father, also named Vlad, was a member of the chivalric order of the dragon, hence the genesis of the son's name. Vlad the son was the ruler of Principate of Wallachia (the southern part of today's Romania, extending roughly from the Carpathian mountains to the Danube River to the South and the Black Sea to the East) on three different occasions: in 1448, between 1456-1462, and again in 1476. He died at the end of 1476 or the beginning of 1477.

Vlad was a complex and controversial character: a great military strategist, a fighter for national independence, a tyrannical ruler, a pillar of Europe's defense against the Ottoman onslaught, an able politician and a sadist renowned for his cruelty. Even in the context of the unspeakable cruelty considered "acceptable" in the 14th and 15th centuries (see the details of the execution of Fra Dolcino în 1307 and Gheorghe Doja in 1514 to name a few, or the towers of skulls left in the wake of Tamerlane's campaigns) his deeds stood out and his reputation has been preserved through the ages. Part of the reason is that a significant number of his victims have been Saxons and a new medium for distributing information, namely the print, had been invented. In 1463 the minstrel Michael Beheim wrote a poem about the bloodthirsty prince Dracula.

By 1499 Ambrosius Huber of Nuremberg had printed a pamphlet whose frontispiece reads: "Here begins the very cruel frightening story about a wild bloodthirsty man Prince Dracula". In other pamphlets, Vlad is called "Prince Dracula, the Great Berserker". Such popular literature appeared with some regularity (we know of about 50) keeping the specter of Dracula , the bloodthirsty and the connection to Vlad the Impaler alive for several centuries.

With the advent of Romanticism came the success of vampire stories such as Polidori's "A Vampire's Tale, James Malcolm Rymer's "Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood." and Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla." Bram Stoker published "Dracula" in 1892; in the book he posited the connection between the character of the fictitious vampire Count Dracula and the historical character Vlad the Impaler, assuring the continued public fascination with both.

I believe that the psychology of Vlad the Impaler raises several intriguing issues and that it may be worthwhile to examine them from a multi-disciplinary perspective: modern dynamic psychology, neuropsychology, moral psychology and psychopathology.

Early Childhood

Vlad was born in the city of Sighisoara at the end of 1431. His father was Vlad II Dracul, future ruler of Wallachia, and his mother most probably Princess Chiajna, of the neighboring principality of Moldavia. Unlike most Romanians who are of the Greek Orthodox faith, Vlad was most likely baptized a Roman Catholic. He was a middle child: his half- brother Mircea was born in 1428 and his younger brother Radu in 1435. As was customary his father also had several mistresses, most noteworthy among them a woman named Caltuna who gave birth to another half-brother who later ruled under the name Vlad the Monk.

The house in which Vlad was born was a solid but nondescript merchant's house close to the Jewelers' Tower. From a window on the second floor one could see the small Council Men's square in front of the tower, the place where traditionally the executions occurred.

Unfortunately the details of his childhood are sparse. His father was surely absent a good part of the first year, having traveled to Nuremberg to get inducted in the order of the Dragon. As was the custom, young Vlad most likely had a wet nurse. Therefore, during this crucial period for emotional development, when according to Erikson basic trust or mistrust in others is being established, he had little contact with either parent. Furthermore, he developed object constancy not toward his parents, but toward caretaking servants who later disappeared from his life. The consequences of the failure to establish basic trust are the inability to establish emotional ties and trust people one is close to, as well as a generalized belief that the world is unpredictable and dangerous.

In extreme cases it can result in attachment disorder in which the above symptoms are exacerbated and accompanied by the inability to form lasting emotional connection and by violent outbursts. We can find these traits to some extent in the adult Vlad Dracula, but the conditions of his upbringing were not significantly different from those prevalent in his social class at that time. According to Florescu and McNally (1989) Vlad received the customary education of a high born, which at this early stage was dominated by women "drilling in the minds of the young heirs that they were different from ordinary mortals." Florescu and McNally also report that according to local lore, Vlad liked to watch the executions taking place in Councilmens' square.

Are these early indications that Vlad was a psychopath? Meloy (1997) lists "three necessary characteristics of psychopathy: behavioral devaluation of others, chronic emotional detachment, and mendacity (which) are the catalyzing agents of his or her wickedness." By "wickedness" Meloy meant the pleasure the psychopath experiences in deceiving others. "The psychopath lies for many reasons, the most common of which is to experience the feeling of contemptuous delight when a deception is successfully carried out. This motive sharply contrasts with normal lying.... Without conscience, there is no guilt. Without guilt, the positive feeling aroused by deception both fuels the psychopath's grandiosity, the belief, for example, that he or she is smarter than most-and acts as an intermittent positive reinforcement. "

But since both exceptionality and implicitly the devaluation of others were "drilled" into Vlad from the earliest age, was he born that way or made into what he became? Also, please keep in mind that according to Bloom (2013) babies are born with an inherent bias toward fairness, which will have to be overcome in order to show "wickedness". Developing into a moral human being is the default option. However, Hoffman (2000) argues that when a child is hurting or about to hurt someone, the parents intervene asking the child to take the perspective of the victim ("if you take away his toy he will feel bad and cry"), something they do approximately 4000 times a year between the ages of 2 and 10. "We can see these as empathetic prods, attempts to get children into the habit of taking the perspective of others. But they also serve as a repeated argument, making the point over and over again to the child: "You are not morally privileged." (Bloom, 2013) We can easily surmise that Vlad did not receive many such interventions (Hoffman named them "inductions").Quite to the contrary he was taught that he is privileged.

Psychopathy can also be considered from the perspective of neuropsychology.

Since the famous case of Phineas Gage it has been known that injury to the lateral prefrontal cortex results in significant changes in social behavior. We have no evidence that Vlad ever sustained such an injury; however the research data also points out another possibility.

Damasio (1994) and Macmillan (2000) have shown that while damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex leads to impaired decision making in real life, it does not lead to deficient moral reasoning. Bechara et al. (1996) suggested that the underlying cause for the permanence of moral behavior is emotional and Koenigs et al. (2007) confirmed it in a study of six patients with bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, an area that is involved in generating emotions, specifically social emotions. Greene (2009), writing about the "cognitive neuroscience of moral judgment" further emphasized the role emotional experience plays in moral development, pointing out that patients who sustain prefrontal cortex injury as children differ from those who are injured as adults. The former "developed into "sociopathic" adults who, in addition to being irresponsible and prone to risk-taking, are duplicitous, aggressive, and strikingly lacking in empathy...The early-onset patients... lacked the emotional responses necessary to learn the basics of human moral behavior." (Greene, 2009, p.4) This findings suggest that even in the absence of brain trauma, a certain degree of emotional responsiveness is needed in order to learn and internalize the basics of human behavior, the "elementary morals" (Morar,2011) the kernel out of which the conscience develops. The above considerations suggest that the conditions of Vlad's early childhood may have resulted in suspiciousness, and emotional detachment, and that his education may have amplified these traits and distorted his moral development. Furthermore, the adult Vlad was an absolute ruler, meaning that the only limits on his behavior had to be self-imposed.

In the context of the 19th, 20th and 21st century we tend to take for granted that internalized moral rules, which roughly correspond to societal norms, control individual behavior. However, in the course of our evolution, the group of reference changed from a small band of hunter gatherers, to a tribe, to a small state, to a multinational state and finally to the whole of mankind. We cannot pinpoint the moment in our moral evolution when morality became an entirely inner agency. In fact, if we look at medieval expressions, for example: "The scourge of God," we find that it had been used for Attila the Hun, the Mongol Invasion and The Black Plague. All were considered God's punishment for humanity's moral transgressions, and indicate an external source of censorship, as if morality had not yet been fully constituted as an inner forum. Conversely, temptation and sin were seen as originating from Satan.

In other words, the locus of control of morality and of transgressions remained to some degree external. We actually do not know when morality became fully internalized, and the time and manner in which it happened may be culture specific.

To sum up, while the early childhood data suggests that Vlad may have suffered a certain degree of emotional neglect, and may have shown a propensity to at least watch violence, based only on this data it cannot be concluded that he was a psychopath. That remains a working hypothesis to be proven. However, it may be useful to conceptualize his mental status in the terms of chaos theory as one "sensitive to initial conditions" where small initial changes can result in large ones later on.

In 1436, Vlad's father became ruler of Wallachia and his family moved to the seat city of Targoviste. According to the Byzantine historian Dukas (1400-1462) Vlad and his brothers continued to receive the customary education of a high born: martial arts, horsemanship , chivalry and court manners, Latin, Slavonic writing, religion, mathematics, and other languages. As mentioned above, Vlad was the middle child. His older brother, Mircea was clearly his father's favorite, groomed to be his successor. Wallachia did not have succession by primogeniture; indeed any blood descendant of the ruler, legitimate or not, anyone "of the royal bone" could claim the throne if supported by the council of boyars, which traditionally held the power to accept or reject a candidate to the throne. Therefore his father's clear preference for Mircea as a successor represented for Vlad a considerable rejection and a diminishing of his prospects.

(Radu Cel Frunos)

His younger brother Radu, presented an altogether different problem: he was exceptionally beautiful, manipulative and seductive, and everybody loved him. He ruled later as Radu the Handsome, and developed into Vlad's lifelong enemy. Squeezed between these gifted brothers: one brave and loyal by all accounts and one admired for his beauty and deceitfulness, Vlad had little room to develop. He became a very astute observer of those around him, suspicious, devious and harboring a pervasive feeling of having been wronged. He probably had to learn to dissimulate his considerable inner rage and find suitable outlets for it. These adaptive strategies were grafted onto his already established emotional detachment, suspiciousness of others and reinforced his hyper vigilant worldview.

Late childhood and adolescence

Vlad II followed the risky balancing game between Hungary and the Turkish Empire that Wallachian rulers had to play. In 1437 he pledged allegiance to the Sultan, Murad II. However, with the rise of John Hunyadi and Hungarian power, he shifted his allegiance without formally declaring so. In fact he was striving to be neutral, something disliked by both parties. In 1442 he was summoned to meet the Sultan in Gallipoli. After installing Mircea on the throne, he complied, taking his two younger sons with him. He was promptly arrested, separated from his sons and held prisoner for about a year. After swearing allegiance once more (on the Bible and on the Koran) Vlad II was released and returned to Wallachia. His sons now aged eleven and seven were left behind as hostages, guaranteeing with their lives his good behavior. They were held first in the fortress of Egrigöz and later in Adrianopole and finally in Bursa where they became part of the Sultan's entourage.

From the young Vlad Dracula's perspective this was an act of utter betrayal and rejection and a significant, even formative, traumatic life event. In essence his father had sacrificed both him and Radu in order to keep Mircea on the throne. Their lives were forfeit if his father did not respect his agreement with the Sultan. He was helpless, alone, did not speak Turkish (yet; in time he mastered it perfectly) nor did he understand the rules of Turkish society. His status was ambivalent: he was treated like nobility, but for the next six years he had to live with the very real possibility of being maimed or executed at any time for the possible transgressions of his father, something he had no control over.

The intrigues of the Sultan's court were all around him creating a paranoid atmosphere in which it was difficult to trust anyone. These conditions closely resemble those characteristic of a totalitarian regime, requiring one to hide his real thoughts and feelings, and Vlad without a doubt developed suitable coping mechanisms: "ketman" (Milosz) - saying the opposite of what you are thinking and "doublethink" (Orwell)- the ability to keep to contradictory statements in mind and use the one best suited for the moment. His suspiciousness and his ability to dissimulate his thoughts and feelings deepened, as did his emotional detachment. Indeed, in his life circumstances having a paranoid worldview was a useful adaptation.

As Florescu and McNally (1989) note, "the purpose of hostage taking was not merely to guarantee the good behavior of the parents, but also to influence mental attitudes, to instill in princes likely succeed to the throne loyalty to the Ottoman Empire" The education of Vlad and Radu continued; the future Sultan Mehmed II was educated along with them. Their tutors included scholars and philosophers and, according to Florescu and McNally (1989) had the right to use corporal punishment as a means of enforcing discipline. Vlad's situation was similar to the one in Targoviste: he was caught between the future Sultan and his brother, Radu who charmed everybody. Therefore he regularly got the brunt of the punishment, growing angrier and more resentful. Occasionally the hostages were reminded of their vulnerability: in 1442 the sons of Serbian despot Brankovic were publicly blinded for plotting against the Sultan with their father.

The presence of the future Sultan also amplified the paranoid atmosphere: the Ottoman Empire did not have succession by primogeniture. Traditionally it preferred "not the eldest son but the fittest" setting the stage for constant plots and counter plots. Because the Sultan had a harem, there was no dearth of candidates. The future Mehmed II was lucky in that by the time he was ready to ascend to the throne; all his half brothers were dead except an infant who he promptly ordered strangled along with his mother. Later, in 1477 he would codify fratricide: "For the welfare of the state, the one of my sons to whom God grants the sultanate may lawfully put his brothers to death".

In August of 1444 Murad II abdicated and Mehmed II became Sultan. He was 12. However, he had to recall his father to lead the troops in the battle of Varna, in November 1444. Mehmed did not rule again until 1451. Mircea and his father, Vlad II, had joined the Christian forces, breaking the oath to the Sultan, and Vlad Dracula and Radu's lives became forfeit. The actions of their father constituted a de facto death sentence, and we can conclude that Vlad's anger, resentment and insecurity grew even more. However, while the conditions of their captivity worsened, they were not harmed, but at the period in life, when according to Erikson, the main developmental goals are establishing a sense of identity and a capacity for intimacy, Vlad's life was filled with traumatic events.

Vlad and Radu received military training, most probably by the Sultan's personal guard, the Janissaries. The Janissaries were an elite corps composed of mostly Christian boys claimed by the Sultan from the occupied lands under the custom of "devşirme." They were circumcised, converted to Islam and swore allegiance to their symbolic father, the Sultan, and to their brethren. During the long training period they had to be celibate and homosexuality was fairly common. The once and future Sultan, Mehmed II was by now fully entranced by Radu and tried to seduce him. Chronicler Chalcondyles describes how Radu defended himself sword in hand but later succumbed. This won him Mehmed's favor and he became his lifelong protégé, converting to Islam and becoming Vlad's main rival to the throne.

Turkish terminology regarding homosexuality makes a distinction between the active penetrator "kulampara" and the passive recipient "ibne". Most of the negative stereotypes regarding homosexuals are directed toward the "ibne" However, Radu had a secret weapon: he was truly bi-sexual and remained so to the end of his life, a seducer of both men and women. We do not have any solid information about what happened to Vlad, but we do not know of any romantic entanglements and we can conjecture that his sexual initiation has not been consensual but by force. As such it constituted a very traumatic formative life event, one that would shape his psychosocial development.

According to Lifton ( 1983a) such events may lead to psychic numbing, which is not merely desensitization but the loss of the symbolic ability to inwardly manipulate the experience. Freud (1915) wrote that the repressed content does not remain inert, but actively combines and re-combines with other repressed contents in order to acquire a format that will fool the Superego and allow it to emerge in consciousness. It is precisely such symbolic manipulation that is impossible in psychic numbing: the traumatic event is inert, a permanent distorting factor of one's inner life. While the outward expression of the traumatic event may look like obsessive compulsive behavior, it lacks the structure of a symptom, whose essential characteristic is that it is a compromise formation, with both manifest and latent contents

. Vlad's obsessive propensity to impale people, one he pursued with such unusual intensity that it led to him being nicknamed "the Impaler," has many of the characteristics of rape: forced penetration, pain, humiliation, but also because he reserved it for his enemies the satisfaction of revenge and it may represent the replaying of a traumatic event he was unable to process internally any further.

After the disastrous defeat of Christian armies at Varna, Vlad II (the father) switched again his allegiance to the winning Turkish side, The Hungarians led a punitive expedition against him and in 1447 he was killed by a rival clan (the Danesti) seeking the throne. Mircea was caught near Targoviste by members of the same clan and buried alive. Soon after becoming an officer in the Sultan's army Vlad received the news that both his father and brother were dead.

He was now the principal suitor of the throne and a Dragon knight, since the title was hereditary. We do not know what his emotional reaction was upon learning of their deaths; some information (Florescu and McNally,1989) suggests that he swore an oath to avenge them.

Accompanied by the Sultan's troops he headed towards Wallachia, defeated the reigning Vladislav II and installed himself on the throne. He was 17. However, his ability to stay in power depended on Turkish support which failed to materialize and after only two months he had to flee, as the Hungarians put Vladislav II on the throne again.

Vlad spent most of the following years at the court of his uncle, Bogdan II , ruler of the neighboring principality of Moldavia. He continued his education, this time in the company of his cousin, prince Stephen, who would rule later as Stephen the Great. Bogdan II was assassinated in 1451 by his own brother, and both princes had to flee to Transylvania which was ruled by John Hunyadi. Meanwhile, however, Vladislav II had switched his allegiance from the Hungarians to the Turks, forcing Hunyadi to support Dracula's bid for the throne in the hope that he will protect his flank against the Turks. Vlad switched his allegiance to Hunyadi, the ally of his father's killers. In 1452 he was once again the ruler of Wallachia, and the Sultan was his enemy.

Adulthood

Further detailed discussion of Vlad the Impaler history is beyond the scope of this paper, since by the time of his second reign he had reached adulthood. The reader is directed to Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally's "Dracula, Prince of Many faces" which is an excellent resource. We will concentrate instead on significant cues that may provide insights about his psychological functioning. The portrait from Ambras castle gives us an idea about his likeness.

Nicholas Modrussa of Cusa met Vlad the Impaler later in his life, and left a detailed physical description: "He was not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cruel and terrible appearance, a long straight nose, distended nostrils, a thin and reddish face in which the large wide-open green eyes were framed by bushy black eyebrows, which made them appear threatening. His face and chin were shaven but for a moustache. The swollen temples increased the bulk of his head. A bull's neck supported the head, from which black curly locks were falling to his wide-shouldered person."

Vlad sought vengeance repeatedly for the death of his father and brother on the boyars whom he considered treacherous. Minstrel Michel Beheim's poem describes how Vlad asked them how many rulers have they known and impaled those who had known "too many." He conducted punitive expeditions against the Saxons of Transylvania laying to waste towns and villages and executing all survivors mostly by impalement. While estimates of the number of victims vary, they range in the tens of thousands.

As Florescu and McNally (1989) indicate, we have three main narratives about Dracula: the Saxon one which emphasizes his cruelty, the Russian one (mainly from Fedor Kuritsyn, the ambassador to the Hungarian court) which describe Vlad as "strict but just" and the Romanian one, mostly oral, which emphasizes that he fought the Turks for independence. There are a number of stories that are present in all three narratives , which may be apocryphal in nature, but are nonetheless confirmed by three independent sources.

One psychologically significant aspect of these narratives describes Vlad's attitude toward impalement. He displayed several ritualized behaviors in regard to his favorite method of execution: he insisted that the length of the stake should reflect the rank of the victim, and arrayed the stakes in geometric patterns, so as to form a visual spectacle. He reached the pinnacle of this compulsion with the infamous "forest of the impaled" when he arranged 20 to 30 thousand impaled Turkish prisoners in the path of Mehmed II's advancing army. (The Sultan turned back. This episode is mentioned by Voltaire)

Possibly more significant is the fact that Russian ambassador Kuritsyn writes: " It is said of him that even while in jail he could not cure himself of the evil habit of catching mice and having birds bought at the marketplace so that he could punish them by impalement. He cut of the heads of some of the birds; others he stripped of their feathers and let loose." (quoted by Florescu and McNally 1989) Gabriel Rangoni, bishop of Erlau confirmed this in a letter written to the Pope "Unable to forget his wickedness he sought mice and cutting them into pieces stuck them on small pieces of wood, just as he had stood men on stakes." (quoted by Florescu and McNally 1989)This behavior suggests both sexual sadism and compulsive behavior, but if the proposed hypothesis, namely that he was a rape victim is true, it may represent the reaction of a deeply traumatized and significantly numbed person endlessly replaying the event that humiliated him and robbed him of essential dignity. From this perspective the ritualized behaviors may be a failed effort to impose rational control and the repetition an effort to regain Ego integrity. Being betrayed and humiliated by imprisonment aggravated this tendency, hence the generalization of behavior to animals. It should be noted that by all accounts Dracula was heterosexual and had numerous mistresses, and that we have no indication of sadistic behavior toward them.

According to Lifton ( 1983b) psychic doubling is a defensive mechanism employed in extreme situation which allows the subject to keep separate moral registers: one for the extreme situation and one for the everyday life. Combined with psychic numbing which insulates the subject from the emotional impact of the extreme situation, doubling insulates him from the consequences of his own actions. While both victimizer and victim can experience psychic numbing as a reaction to the same extreme life event, only the victimizer will experience psychic doubling because he has the opportunity to also lead a "normal" life.

Another psychologically significant aspect is the peculiar logic used by Vlad to explain his use of violence. When a boyar complained about the smell of the decomposing bodies (Ambrosius Huber's illustration is correct. He used to eat amid the carnage, in the proximity of his victims) Vlad immediately ordered him impaled "on a very high stake, so the smell won't bother him." When he thought that there are too many beggars in the country he announced that the Prince will give a banquet for the poor; after they gathered in an inn, he ordered the doors nailed shot and set the inn on fire. When he received Turkish envoys, he asked them why they do not uncover their heads in his presence. They answered that their religion requires them to keep their heads covered. Vlad ordered their turbans nailed to their heads "least they fall off and they offend their religion."

After one of his mistresses told him that she is pregnant. Vlad answered "you cannot be." She insisted. Vlad cut her belly open saying "See you are lying. Let the world see where I have been." Exasperated by thievery , he made it a capital offense. He put a gold cup at the public fountain in the center of the town, and the whole town had to guard it because he threatened to impale everybody if it was stolen.

One day while roaming the countryside he noticed a peasant working in the fields and thought that his shirt was too short. He had the man's wife immediately impaled and married him on the spot to another woman, ordering her to take better care of her husband. These stories, and more are present in all three narratives; some also figure in Turkish chronicles.

From a diagnostic point of view such peculiar use of logic may be indicative of an autism spectrum disorder, but we lack the slightest indication that Vlad displayed any other indication of such. To the contrary he was an insightful observer of others, proof that he had a theory of mind. Alternatively, the distorted logic may be the manifestation of an organized delusion, but we have little indication that Vlad's reality testing was affected. He was able to master the intricate and ever shifting game of alliances and allegiances and to play it well.

Perhaps the factor connecting all these contradictory behaviors is Vlad Dracula's degree of emotional detachment, one of the symptoms of psychic numbing. Acquired early in childhood and reinforced by traumatic experiences, it insulated Vlad from their full psychological consequences but at the same time destroyed his ability for empathy. This may be the genesis of his peculiar logic: it is bereft of emotion. In turn, psychic doubling permitted him to be unaffected by his actions in his daily life.

Diagnosing Vlad Dracula poses a complex problem and in the absence of hard data I thought it better to outline the possibilities. Keeping in mind the additional methodological problem of trying to apply current theories to an absolute monarch living in a century with totally different conditions, child rearing techniques and morays, I believe that it is the appropriate approach.

The most fitting diagnostic category is that of Paranoid Personality Disorder. Like all personality disorders, it is a way of being, a stable personality trait, not a reaction to a given event. According to the DSM 5, it consists of a pervasive and persistent pattern of behavior characterized by generalized mistrust and suspicion of others. Subjects with Paranoid Personality Disorder have the mistaken belief that others are lying and plotting against them; they doubt "the loyalty and trustworthiness of others," are vengeful, jealous, hold grudges , tend to retaliate and distort social cues in order to justify their bias. Westen et al. (2006) compared the functioning of subjects who were asked to make a decision after being confronted with facts contrary to their beliefs:

"We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning. What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts. Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones." In other words distorting the situation to fit preconceived facts is rewarded, reinforcing the bias.

As Caroll (2009) notes, the worldview that the individual has developed as a result of his past experiences must also be taken into account. In Dracula's case this worldview was in complete agreement with the paranoid one because his life experiences had confirmed it at every turn. Also, there is an overlap between the manifestations of Paranoid Personality Disorder and those of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as subjects suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can also display a tendency to become guarded suspicious and hypervigilant. Additionally, as noted above the reaction to extreme life events may also lead to psychic numbing and doubling and the resulting emotional detachment from the consequences of one's actions.

I argued recently (Dan 2014) that by manipulating the appraisal of a situation one can construct the result of his actions as being morally justified. Haidt (2012) has identified six "fundaments of morality" constructed around polar dimmensions: care-harm, liberty-oppression, fairness-cheating, loyalty-betrayal, authority-subversion, and sanctity-degradation. By manipulating his appraisal of the situation, Vlad Dracula placed his ennemies at the negative pole of each dimension: the Boyars and Saxons are harming the people, they are trying to oppress them and they use dishonest methods to achieve their means, they are disloyal they subvert his authority by their support for the Turks who degrade our religion. By default, he placed himself at the positive pole of each dimension. As a result, actions based on his beliefs are seen as morally acceptable, even desirable.

While I believe that the above analysis is correct, I feel that it would be wrong to reduce the complex character of Vlad to mere diagnostic formulations.

Vlad Dracula had a lifelong commitment to a few overarching goals: the independence of Wallachia, breaking the Boyars' grip on power, safeguarding Christianity from the onslaught of Islam. The latter is a fulfillment of his oath as a knight of the Order of the Dragon, a title he inherited from his father. He put all of his abilities, including the ones born out of his pathology in the effort to achieve those goals. Like Tamerlane, he had learned to use terror as a political and military tool and did not care about the consequences to his reputation. Being a learned man, he must have known that history will not treat him kindly. I like to think of it as an act of self sacrifice.

A personal note

At the end of the 80's I was asked by my adviser about the topic I was considering for my dissertation. Being rebellious, I proposed the psychobiography of Dracula, and, as expected, I was promptly rebuffed. Because of my interest in the topic, I continued my research. It led in the end to the writing of a novel, presently in search of a publisher. However as I learned more about moral development, adjustment to extreme life events, and the psychology of evil, I felt the time has come to try and finally bring this project to fruition.

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